The Muse Story
by Cimarrion Cim
Summary: what's a summary?
1. Chapter 1: The Beggining

Cim: I put this story up before, but I took it down so I could make a few changes. This is the story of my muse, as told to me by my muse, so basically even I have no idea as to what may happen next. It will be very long and complicated, and I'm sure no one would notice if you stopped reading right here. But I promised I would tell this entire tale, and thus will keep my promise. Even it is stupid.... *THWAP* ....owww....  
  
Disclaimer: (Cari) Wrenswing Masaki is my creation. No steally. The rest (so far) is not mine (so far). If you even bothered sueing me over this, all you would get is my green hair scruchie, which means I would sue you back for taking my hair scruchie, which would have caused me emotional distress. Not to mention that you would waste time and money, as well have a emotionally distressed fanfiction authoress angry at you. For those who don't know: that's very bad.  
  
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Cari stood at the edge of an open field. She watched, frozen, as her mother faught with a shadowy man that had not shown up in Cari's life before now. They sped around the battlefield , abruptly coming to a stop. A thought made itself known in Cari's mind. This was it. The last hit. She had to save her mother.  
Without hesitation, Cari ran to her mother's side, "You can't do this!" she yelled to her mom, "I won't let you leave me!"  
Shocked by the sudden outburst,the older woman turned to her daughter  
"Cari?I thought I told you to stay inside. This is no place for a child." her voice was stern, almost panicked,"Go back, Cari."  
The shadowy man looked over her shoulder to the little girl. Smiling demonically,he set off a huge ki blast onto the back of the unsuspecting woman. Illuminating her mother's figure just before it hit,Cari's eyes went wide as her mother repeated herself in her dying sentance.  
"Go back, Cari."  
  
Wrenswing Keigu Masaki woke up in a cold sweat, sitting up to put her face in her hands, trying to forget the memory that so often echoed in her dreams.   
Closing her eyes lightly, she reminded herself where she was and that she had had a bad dream and nothing more. Checking the clock, she decided to get up since the alarm would go off in fithteen minutes. After going into the bathroom and washing her face, she sat down on the edge of the bed with what looked like a carding coam and tried to brush her hair. Finishing her hair and putting on her day clothes, she lurched into the kitchen to get some toast and marmalade and perhapes a scrap of normal conversation from Sasami. Cari wasn't a morning person, but she did keep herself in order.  
"Good morning! You're up early. I didn't know you were up, I didn't hear you fall."  
Cari rolled her eyes.Sasami like to tease her about her habit of rolling out of bed and onto the floor every morning at five-thirty.She had told them time and again that it helped her wake up, but they never listened.  
"Ha, very ha." she said meekly,turning to go into the dining room.Inside Ryoko and Ayaeka were fighting over Tenchi, as usual.Not wanting to enter the room during a fight, Cari sighed and pulled up a stool to eat in the kitchen.  
"Why don't those two ever give up?" she asked, speaking her thoughts aloud.Sasami just shrugged and continued to make omlets.After awhile, the commotion in the dining room quieted, and Sasami and Cari deemed it safe to enter.Ayaeka was fuming, Ryoko was glaring, and Tenchi was trying his best to ignore the both of them.Cari found herself a seat, and calmly started to spread the marmalade on her toast.Finding she could not finish such an important task in such a tense atmosphere, she rested her chin in her hands.  
"Alright, what happened this time?"  
Before she even finished the question, Ayaeka and Ryoko were in Cari's face, each yelling out some story that could barely be made out above the other's.The most that anyone could make out from either story was that it had to do with boats, vacations, and someone saying ''you're mean".Not that it mattered, because a second later they were yelling in each other's face.Everyone else finished breakfast,put away their dishes, and went to do whatever they felt like at the time.It was about lunchtime when Ryoko and Ayaeka forgot what they were yelling about and decided to do whatever they did, too. Right now they decided to say goodbye to Tenchi before he left for school.Fortunatly, Tenchi saw them coming and ran all the way to the bus stop. Nearby, another youth was trudging through the woods...  
  
Having nothing to do, Cari had wandered outside, her mind set on visting the cherry tree grove that was a ways behind her old house.Since the explosion that had killed her parents and her brother, Cari had lived with her uncle and cousin, them being the nearest living reletives.In her past couple months there, she had found a connection with the cherry tree grove.It somehow eased her pain, being able to lay in the uncut grass and stare up at the sky, musing over all those spring days when her brother and self would climb into the thick boughs, collecting spriggs of cherry blossoms to take to their mother, who would sit up from her position on working on the family veggetable garden and take up a spray of cherry blossoms to tuck in her curly red locks of hair.Then she would flash a dazzling smile that was enough to make anyone weak in the knees. That smile was what made all the scrapes worthwhile.   
Many a time had people told Cari that her mother was beautiful.It was just one more reason why Cari loved her. Her sweet personality and good looks made her seem an angel.How Cari wished she had been blesssed to be an angel like her mother.Having inherited her father's square jaw and his olive skin, Cari had a tomboyish appeal. She had tried to look more feminine by growing her brown hair out longer, but to no avail.Her main problem were that she absolutly refused to wear a skirt, much less a dress.Being stubborn about other things didn't help much either.Sighing, she opened her eyes from where she lay, thinking that if everyone thought her a tomboy, she might as well live it up.  
Her thoughts were interupted when a large bird above her in the sky fell into a nosedive, landing with a soft *flump* next to her. Taking it for an owl, she took pity on it and carried it inside so as to nurse it back to health. Giving it a small tray of water to drink, Cari found a note was tied to it's leg.Not wanting to frighten the poor creature, she gently slipped the note off it's leg, reading the letter.  
  
Hogwarts School  
of Witchcraft and Wizardry  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Headmaster; Albus Dumbledore  
((Order of Merlyn, First Class, Grand Sorc.,  
Chf. Warlock, Supreme mugwump,  
International Confed. of Wizards))  
  
Dear Miss Masaki,  
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at   
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.Please find enclosed   
a list of all necessary books and equipment.  
Term begins on September first. We await your owl no later   
than July 31.  
Yours sincerely,  
Minerva McGonagall  
((deputy headmistress))  
  
Whatever Cari was expecting, it certainly wasn't an invite to a school of magic. She stood, stunned, with hundreds of thought zooming through her mind, one chasing after another,each more unlikely than the last. As she searched through the envelope, Cari found there were more papers inside.  
Aside from the first letter, she found a list of things she would need, and ... ::a letter to her grandfather::  
Realizing the walk to her granfather's would be long, and Ryoko and Ayeaka would be back soon, she decided to the owl in her room. hopefully, Peril would be wise enough to leave the animal alone.  
Cari remembered about Hogwarts vaugely; it was located somewhere in Ireland, which is quite a ways from Japan. The little guy had had quite a journey.  
Picking it up with ease, she carried the weary creature up to her room, where heard the soft cry of her pet.  
"Just a moment, Peril!" she called as he wound about her legs, purring softly.  
"What is it this time? A bird?" he asked inquisitively, amber eyes questioning the bundle of feathers in her arms.  
Peril is not your average cat. Or rabbit, for that matter, though he looks like a cross between the two. Actually, no one really knows what he is. Peril turned up on the Masaki doorstep along time ago, and had been Cari's ever since. She had even gone so far as to teach him to talk, which had it's ups and downs.  
Most of the Masaki's agreed that Peril was a cabbit like Ryo-okie, since he had long, floppy ears. The family's scientist, Washu, isn't totally satisfyed with the this answer. This resulted in the fact that whenever Washu was around, Peril would disappear, least she decide to experiment on him.  
Cari had set up a corner for the owl in her own makeshift bedroom.  
"C'mon, Peril." she called out over her shoulder. She didn't want Peril to bother the owl.  
"What was that about?" questioned Peril, as he bounded down the stairs behind Cari.  
"That's what we're going to find out" sighed Cari.  
Climbing up the many outside stairs, Cari finally made it to the thatched cottage where her grandfather livid alone.  
"Come in, come in,'' Grampa called from the small kitchen as Cari flung open the rickety old door/screen, "I was just about to make tea...''  
It was a few minutes before the tea was ready and all could sit down to talk. Peril sulked into the shadows of the hallway, mumbling about mice.  
"Oh, Grampa, I've had a strange day. Far stranger than usual..." she trailed off, explaining her day so far, evevntually handing over the letter that was adressed to him.  
There was a moment of silence as Grampa read the letter.  
"Ah, so Dumbledore's invited you." said Grampa, looking over the rim of the paper at the petiete, eight-year-old girl standing before him.  
"Your mother was a teacher at Hogwarts a few years before you were born, so I don't think you'd remember him.You were very little that one time he came to visit us..." he gave a small frown.  
"...So. It's all up to you.You don't have to go, Cari, though I think it might be an enlightening experience...."At this, Grampa smiled and gave a wink.  
"It's what your mother and father would have wanted, Cari."  
Cari sat quietly for a moment. No one had spoken of her family since she had come to live with her cousin and uncle.  
"Alright, I'll go." 


	2. Chapter 2: On my way

There was much excitment over ther next few days as Cari prepared to leave for London. Finally, after three days of preparation, she took an airplane to Britain, where she would be watched over by a close family friend.  
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Cari woke up automatically as sunlight crossed her face, having made it's way through the drawn blinds. She sat up, not bothering with the tangled sheets and headed toward the door. On her way, she picked up her oar-like hairbrush and shook Peril awake. She headed toward the kitchen of her Aunt Morwen's house, only to find the beloved family friend already cooking breakfast. A quick look at the clock told Cari what she needed to know; it was almost eleven. She had slept late because of jet lag. Cari propped her elbows up against the table as the no-nonsense woman passed her a plate of muffins and a tall glass of apple cider.   
"Nice to see you up and about again, Cari." said Morwen in her usual pleasant tone. "I haven't seen you since you were about three. How is everyone back home?"  
"Grampa's doing just fine, and Uncle couldn't be better." replied Cari. She knew that Morwen wanted to know what had happened to her parents and her siblings, but she wasn't about to be pushed into talking about them. The pain of her loss still stung sharply. Morwen must have sensed this, because she changed the subject.  
" ...After you finish breakfast, go on upstairs to change. We're going shopping for your school things today."   
Looking at Morwen, Cari realized that the older woman was dressed already in a simple black robe. Taking her gaze away, Cari gazed into the nearest reflecting item, which happened to be a toaster. Distorted in the toaster was her own twisted reflection, with her petite, wiry frame leaning on the table, wearing dark blue cotton PJ's, and her dark brown hair cascading down her back, unbound from it's braid. She stuck her tonge out at her reflection, then got up from the table, juggling a muffin as she made her way into her room. Once there, she broke off a piece of the muffin for Peril, letting him eat it of the bed. If Morwen found any crumbs, she would understand. She had seven cats of her own, and lavished each one with affection in different ways. Mostly patience.  
Cari got dressed in blue jeans and a random t-shirt. After binding her hair in a tight braid, the eight-year-old took a last glance around the room with the look of one just seeing everything for the first time, or the last. She picked up her bag and left the room with Peril trailing at her heels, worries on what her new school would be like fresh in her mind. 


End file.
